Mending Me
by EverlastingWhisper
Summary: When recently divorced Tate Langdon moved to a small town in Tennessee, he meets Violet Harmon, his next door neighbor and student teacher. The two grow close, shattering the walls they have built around their hearts and letting one another in as their walls crumble. -Completely AU, Lemons, Smut... The good stuff ;) enjoy!


Today was just like any other day, the summer heat waves had many inside or out in their pool. Some were out doing lawn work, but not many. The sound of a truck pulling up caught my attention from where I was on my spot on the couch. Setting my book down, I got up and looked out the front door. There was a moving truck next door, the lucky contestant this time was a male. A quite handsome one I might add.

He wore a plain black shirt that fit over his muscles in all the right places and a pair white And1 shorts with black and white And1 shoes to match. He had on aviator sunglasses and his tousled dirty blonde hair blew with the summer wind. Man he was the picture of perfection if you ask me. Running to the bathroom I tossed my hair into a cute messy bun and brushed my teeth before I slipped my flip-flops on and headed out the door.

I crossed our yard as the truck was pulling away, all of the man's belongings were left there in the yard and he stood with his hands perched in his hips as he scanned his things. There wasn't much, the basics really.

"Hi!" I exclaimed, making his jump slightly and turn around. His lips curled up into a cute half-smile as he chuckled lightly. "You scared me! Hi."

I smiled, his smile alone made my heart race. "Sorry, Hi, I'm Violet Harmon. Your neighbor."

He nodded as he shook my hand, a strong firm hand. "Nice to meet you Violet, I'm Tate Langdon."

The name sounded very familiar to me and I tried to recall where I heard that name before. "Are you going to be the new English Lit teacher here?" I could see a brow rise over his glasses.

"Yeah, how did you.." I laughed and shook my head. "Not much goes unknown here in our small town. Plus I am going to be your student teacher for the year."

He smacked his head lightly. "I thought your name sounded familiar, Principal White told me I would have one. Well it's good to meet you!" I smirked a little; this newfound confidence was scaring me.

"Likewise. Do you need any help?" I asked, gesturing to his things on the lawn and he turned to eye me down and then his stuff. "Uh.. yeah."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, you think just because I am a girl I'm weak and can't lift, am I right?" My remark caused him to smirk a bit and I shook my head. "Naughty, judging a book by its cover already I see. I've got some muscle for a girl." This time he laughed.

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

* * *

"It seems that I underestimated you, Vi." Tate said as he sat down at our kitchen table. After we finished moving everything inside and putting stuff away, I invited him over for some sweet tea, to cool down. "I don't mean to brag, buuuut, I told you so!" I sat down on the opposite side of the table and grinned.

We didn't speak much, I told him to call me Vi, everyone else did but other than that, much wasn't exchanged. "What brings you here?" I eyed him over my glass as I took a sip of tea. He frowned a bit and looked down at his hands for a few moments. "Well, I'm recently divorced and I was the lucky contestant who had to move out. Plus it is closer to my job."

I thought my mouth was going to drop open at the word divorced. "Whoa, what? You're divorced? Holy cow." My response must have caught him off guard because he raised a brow at me in confusion and I laughed. "Sorry, I don't mean any disrespect by any means. I just wasn't expecting you to say that! How old are you anyways?" Talking to him seemed to come natural, something I've never had with anyone else and it scared me a little.

"23 going on 24 in a couple of months. You?" My heart raced a little, an older man. How sexy.

"18, going on 19 in a few weeks!" This caused him to laugh a little. "Was it your best friend?" I asked quietly. His body language and reaction told me everything I needed to know. She had cheated on him with his best friend.

"I never even told you.."

"You don't live with a psychiatrist your whole life and not pick up on a few things. Plus you're pretty easy to read, almost like a children's book. "

He scoffed. "Should I be offended? But yes, it was my best friend. Her name was Jennifer and his was Greg. She and I have been together since we were 14. I could see the want to experience others I guess, I never had it but apparently she did."

I frowned a bit. "I really am sorry to hear that, by the way. You have the chance to start over, enjoy it!" I smiled, causing him to smile.

"What about you? How many hearts have you broken?" He asked, taking a sip from his tea. I flushed at his question; he just had to ask didn't he?

"None. I've never had a boyfriend." I admitted, sad as it was. His mouth opened a little as if he was going to speak and then closed it again. He did this a few times, reminding me of a fish.

"You aren't kidding, are you? Wow, that was something that **I** didn't expect! You're a beautiful young woman." His compliment left me speechless and I looked down, smiling to myself as my cheeks burned. I recovered quickly.

"Thanks, only my mom calls me that, a parent thing none the less." He just nodded. "What about your dad?" He asked curiously, testing the waters. I sighed and stood up. "Follow me." Without a word he got up from his chair and I headed to the stairs and up to the trophy room. When I opened the door, he looked around in awe.

"My dad wanted a dad really bad. Before they got a divorce, my mom was pregnant with my little brother, Michael. She ended up losing him around 7 months and they made her deliver him. I was 4 at the time. Everything changed after that."

My hand trailed over the shelf that held nothing but 1st place ribbons and trophies. "He started putting me in everything. Taking classes for this and that. I got 2nd place once. That was unacceptable and I got whipped with a belt, from then on it was 1st or nothing. Some of the things I enjoyed a lot, singing especially. It's my absolute favorite. Since that miscarriage, I haven't heard my dad say I was pretty or tell me he loves me."

I sighed inwardly. "Then he cheated on my mom last year and they divorced and he and his mistress married. She's only 21. Now she is pregnant and no matter how many times I have lunged at her, they won't let me beat the shit of her." This made him chuckle a little and I followed suit. "I even know how to box and have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. I am trained to defend myself properly; my Uncle Joseph is in the secret service for the President." I pointed to the picture of me and the President from our recent barbeque we had a few weeks ago, he was a nice man."

His brows shot up in awe and he mouthed wow. I sighed. "Yeah, just recently he backed off of me, with the new baby, a boy too, coming. He shook his head. "That's wow, I mean, that sucks your dad was like that. Mine ran off with his mistress, our maid, when I was six. My mom pretty much became a whore." This caused me to burst out into a laugh. "Mine has too, but only for younger, handsome men. You better watch out!" This made him grin and I walked over to the door and he followed behind.

We descended down the stairs as the front door opened and my mom walked in. I was the younger, spitting version of my mother. Minus the red hair, I got brown hair from dad. "Mom, this is our new neighbor Tate Langdon." He shook her hand as we reached the bottom of the stairs and my mom flushed.

_God mom._

"It's good to meet you, Tate!" He nodded. "You too Ms. Harmon."

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked and I narrowed my eyes a little. That's how it starts out, and then she breaks out the wine and tries to lure him into bed. Tate looked back at me and then my mom and shook his head. "Nah, thank you though. I've had a long day. Think I'm just gonna crash, thank you for the invitation." Before my mom could interject I headed to the door and opened it.

"I'll walk you home." That statement made him laugh considering he living across the lawn.

"Sorry about her, I wasn't kidding." He laughed.

"I see that! She is a beautiful woman though.." He nudged my shoulder and I shoved him playfully. We reached his front door and he turned to look at me, his hand perched on the door knob.

"Thanks for everything Violet."

I nodded. "No problem."

He nodded and then opened the door and I panicked a little. "Tate! What are you doing tomorrow night?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, I know no one but you and I don't know what there is to do around here, why?"

I grinned. "Wanna come with me to the round house down the street here?" He thought for a moment and then grinned. "I'd love too! What time?"

"How does 6 sound? That's when karaoke starts." He nodded. "Sure thing. See you then." He winked and was gone inside his house.

I trudged back over to the house and went inside and up the stairs to my room. Mom was occupied on the phone. I was giddy and headed over to my closet, might as well start planning what I was going to wear tomorrow night! At times like this, I wish I had a friend to confide in, to tell them how excited I was. Oh well.

* * *

**Tell me what you think, honestly please! I am testing the waters with this story, for it has been nagging my brain so much I just had to write it. I love reviews, follows and favorites! The president I referred to in here in not Obama, just so no one gets angered or anything at the good man part. Alright, I think that is all! But for real, let me know what you think! 3 thanks guys, you are all the best!**


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